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It's spring and a young man's attention turns to..


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...well, a middle aged man...

Though I listen to most music throughout the year, certain musics have a seasonal feel for me.

Spring always sees the British folk and folk rock stuff hit the CD player/turntable (see other threads); early 20th C English classical music - Vaughan Williams, Delius, Holst, Moeran, Butterworth et al; and, for some reason I can't quite fathom, the music of XTC.

With the British spring being very early and quite glorious this year - nearly a month of sunshine until yesterday's downpour (God's idea of an April Fool) - these have all been spinning of late.

Anyone else got any spring favourites?

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This spring for me it's bossa nova. One year, about three back it was Bud Powell: I played Bud Powell a LOT til summer hit. The year after that it was Duke Ellington, session after session. Generally speaking, in the spring some genre or artist takes hold and I dive in deeply.

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Music from tropical regions always hit the spot once the sun's out. Every year about this time sees me dusting off my roots and dub collection. Lots of Lee Perry and the Upsetters, Ethiopians, Ken Boothe, King Tubby et al.

Creedence Clearwater Revival always works too, and I'll probably be listening to a lot of The Band this summer. "Music From the Big Pink" has been on my listening platter quite a bit lately.

Fela. Definately listening to more Fela this summer. B)

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funny you should have brought this up because last week i was cleaning (yes, cleaning) and i regressed several years (in terms of what was on heavy rotation then).

tumbling from the speakers were Soundgarden - Superunknown, Veruca Salt - American Thighs & The Amps - Pacer.

Fantastic stuff.

The Soundgarden album must surely be one of my all time favourites, putting me in the mood for anything that requires raising my pulse 40 or so beats.

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There aren't discernable seasons in Los Angeles, so listen to what I feel is appropriate on a day to day basis. :rsmile:  :alien:  :eye:  :bwallace:

Gosh!

I can't imagine a year without seasons!

Once it was 100 degrees on Christmas Day. True Story. :rsmile:

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I'm in California too, so I miss out on the seasons.

When I listen to Delius or Vaughan Williams, I do get the feeling of how an English spring might feel. I really enjoy that music.

Speaking of seasonal music: Is anyone a fan of Vaughan Williams "Hodie"? I love listening to that at Christmas.

:rsmile:

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There aren't discernable seasons in Los Angeles, so listen to what I feel is appropriate on a day to day basis. :rsmile:  :alien:  :eye:  :bwallace:

Gosh!

I can't imagine a year without seasons!

You should have lived in the Imperial Valley in California.It's one of the many reasons I'm glad that I don't live there anymore.

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I'm in California too, so I miss out on the seasons.

When I listen to Delius or Vaughan Williams, I do get the feeling of how an English spring might feel. I really enjoy that music.

Speaking of seasonal music: Is anyone a fan of Vaughan Williams "Hodie"? I love listening to that at Christmas.

:rsmile:

I play 'Hodie' at Christmas - its a bit gallumphing VW! I dearly love the man's music but some of his choral pieces in particular do tend to sound like Falstaff trying to dance the cygnets in Swan Lake!

I'd heartily recommend some of the less well know early 20th C English composers for that 'spring feeling.' In particular try and get a recording of George Butterworth's short orchestral pieces - 'The Banks of Green Willow', 'Two English Idyll's' and, best of all, the magisterial 'A Shropshire Lad' (be careful, there is also a very nice song cycle with the same name by Butterworth). Butterworth's music is especially poignant because he'd only composed a small number of pieces before he was killed on the Somme in 1916.

Delius is interesting - I too find him quintessentially English. Yet he grew up in industrial Yorkshire, an area with its own beautiful countryside but much more rugged than the usual depictions of England. He also spent most of his life and wrote most of his best known music in France. In some ways he ought to be bracketed with Ravel and Debussy.

Talking of which I also like the Ravel/Debussy Quartets as Spring music.

***********

I'll also vote for Ry Cooder and Manual Galban - heard it in a record shop and it made me think of Mark Ribot. I think this could become one of my summer records!!!

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